With the launch of AXELOS’ Professional Development Programme, we have updated one of our previous blogs on our Career Paths tool, which we designed to help you identify the professional skills needed to progress in some of the main job areas in today’s marketplace. You can then use our Professional Development Programme's resources to shape and grow those skills and cabilities. Karen Pole discusses the importance of professional development, and how to get the most out of this AXELOS resource.
Professionalism is a trait that is highly valued by employers but what does it mean to be professional? And how can you use it to build your brand in the workplace?
Professionalism is about understanding the specialized skills and knowledge you need in your role. All of us have gaps in our skill-set, but what distinguishes professionals is their deep commitment to master and improve their capabilities, and to invest in their continuing professional development so that they can deliver the best work possible.
Best practice qualifications, such as PRINCE2®, provide valuable know-how and are an important element in building professional credibility. But qualifications are just one part of the picture. Organizations want to know if you can develop and thrive in their environment so recruiters will be looking for employability skills as well as technical knowledge and education. For example, alongside technical proficiency, a professional project manager will be able to lead people, build teams, deal with conflicts and understand the business.
AXELOS Career Paths
Career Paths is a free tool from AXELOS designed to help existing professionals and new starters to build their professionalism and plan their next career move in IT Service Management (ITSM) project and programme management (PPM).
It takes you through the types of positions that are commonly being recruited and provides detailed definitions of the professional skill-sets and qualifications that will help you to move into these jobs.
It also offers a growing library of helpful resources, tips, tools and techniques to help you make a successful career transition.
How Career Paths helps ITSM and PPM professionals
IT service and project management offer some of the most diverse and rewarding careers out there but for those starting out, it's not always clear what the career options are.
Through Career Paths, AXELOS is aiming to make the roles and career routes clearer to early career practitioners, so that they can approach their career planning more methodically and gain the skills that employers are looking for.
Career Paths will help them to research the roles and career routes that interest them and will pinpoint the AXELOS qualifications and training providers that can help build their brand as a committed professional.
For more established industry professionals, Career Paths will help them benchmark their skills against professional standards. Whether the aim is to hone skills within their current position or to prepare for a career move, there are benefits from systematic self-assessment.
Being able to demonstrate transferable skills increases your competitive professional advantage, making you more versatile should you wish to progress up the career ladder or move sideways to a new role or career path. It also provides the basis for planning your professional development and broadening of your skills.
Accessing the Career Paths tool
You can access Career Paths on AXELOS.com free of charge after registering with us for an account.
Do you have your own career path planned? What skills are you currently developing to progress this? Do you think continuing professional development is a useful way of achieving your career goals? Please share your comments in the box below.